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Creative, Flexible Ready-to-use Speaking Exercises

Summary

Pros:

<p>This innovative ESL textbook encourages students to learn by doing, share their experiences, learn about classmates, and develop conversational fluency. Ideal for conversation classes where students must constantly speak, this excellent resource can also supplement advanced and high intermediate classes. Finally, the easy-to-use format with concise chapters of three-four pages provides exceptional flexibility for English teachers.</p>

Cons:

<p>Teachers will probably not be able to finish the book in a single semester, annoying some students. Plus, some chapters also touch on controversial subjects (dating, elections) and seem very American (California calling, Coming to America) requiring some selective editing if used in closed societies.</p>

What a delight! This conversation book gets ESL students talking. Each chapter poses 25 or so questions and shares a dozen fun quotes. Lots of great conversations starters like "How do you win the game of life?" Superb resource for "multi-level" Intermediate and Advanced classes. An abundance of material that can be used both in and out of the classroom.

Absolutely. The 45 chapters allow English teachers to pick and choose their favorite lessons and customize their own class for at least two semesters. I like the freedom to choose, and prefer to tailor course content to match the interests of the actual students sitting in a class.

On the other hand, some ESL programs and some Englissh students find this same surplus of material frustrating because they can't complete the entire book in a single semester. Many seem to prefer a one-size fits all textbook. For better or for worse, Compelling Conversations works on different assumptions and educational values.

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